Lorraine is an important centre for luxury crystal and enamelware, les arts de la table, with Nancy at the hub. Nancy was as important a centre for Art Nouveau as Paris, Brussels or Vienna, being home to a school of crystalware founded by the genius of glass, Émile Gallé. Also in Nancy, the Musée Historique Lorrain displays a vast panorama of regional ceramic art, most notably faience and porcelain from the Argonne area, Lunéville and Niderviller. Former capital of the dukes of Lorraine, Nancy is also famous for its architecture, notably that around the place Stanislas (1752), a great place to see and be seen. In 1477 the Duke of Burgundy, the warlike Charles the Bold, was defeated at Nancy as he tried to capture Lorraine; it was an outcome that led to Burgundy being absorbed by the French crown. A plaque in Nancy's Grand'Rue marks the spot where Charles was found, half-eaten by wolves
Longwy, right on the border with Belgium and Luxembourg in the north, enjoys a great reputation for its artistic faience in relief, a technique introduced around 1874 and which really spurred on contemporary creativity.
The château de Lunéville (called 'Little Versailles' for reasons easy enough to deduce) bears witness to the intense activity of its local faïenceries, who ensured a continuing popularity at the end of the 19th century with their adoption of Art Nouveau.
For all its refined craftsmanship, the département is also a centre for heavy industry, and the small town of Pont-à-Mousson is famous throughout France for a factory that produces drains and manhole covers.
